Caregiver In Canada

In Canada, there are approximately 120,000 people that have been diagnosed with dementia or a related condition. Dementia is a condition that is a progressive mental disorder and is characterized as deterioration of intelligence and personality (Myers, 2009). By 2031 this number will drastically increase to 750,000 due to the baby boomers aging (Statistics Canada, 2013; Black, et al., 2010). A caregiver is a person who contributes to another person's social, medical, environmental and economic resources (Myers, 2009). Family members taking on the role of the caregiver can experience a sense of gratification, great meaning and benefit in providing care (Kramer, 2000). This will lead to a major impact on the labor force, health insurance,

According to Black et al. (2010), the surveys performed is their study provide information that show caregivers of people with dementia have increased reports of fatigue, helplessness, stress and onset of depression symptoms. This study continues to state that the caregivers are usually family member and that they take on the financial burden and they can spend as much as one thousand dollars a month for prescriptions and other medical care (Black, et al., 2010). O'Rourke, Cappeliez, and Neufeld (2007) performed a study on caregivers responsible for people with dementia and the relation to recurrent depression. This strengthens Black et al. (2010) article by showing that caregivers are significantly compromised and during the 10 year study these caregivers have reports symptomatic depression and furthermore leading to decrease in their physical health. Another study by Mitchell et al. (2015) states that there is a strong correlation between increased amount of time spent caring for the dementia person and increased distress of the

Firstly, findings from this study can fill the gap and limitation that exist in current literature on caregivers of dementia patients. Chan & O’Connor (2014) pointed out that “there is an overall agreement and concern in the general and dementia care literature that ethnic minorities are an understudied group” (p. 191). Owing to the fact that the Chinese community represents the largest and also the fastest growing group of minorities in British Columbia (Statistics Canada, 2006a), more effort and attention on research for this population is justifiable. In fact, according to Statistics Canada (2006b), 1 in every 5 people in Vancouver is Chinese and they were mostly born outside Canada. Therefore, lack of research information about this ethnic group can result in many negative health outcomes in caregivers of dementia patients due to insufficient resources and support offered to this population in the health care system. Secondly, this study can raise the awareness of policymakers and stakeholders around the significance of culturally congruent and competent care which is necessary in a multicultural society like Canada. This idea is supported by the nursing theorists on transcultural nursing, Madeleine Leininger, who emphasizes that “cultures have their own unique cultural concerns that influence their health, well-being, or death that they want health care providers to address” (Leininger, 2002). Increase in